Taking Charge of Your Health: Advice From a Hematologist

Published on
January 11, 2016

Topics include:
Treatment and Understanding

Continuing with our coverage of the 2015
American Society of Hematology (ASH) meeting, Dr. Robert Hromas, hematologist
at the University of Florida College of
Medicine, discusses the enormously exciting advances in blood cancers. He shares feedback on how patients can access
the latest information on their condition and other important advice. Listen as
Dr. Hromas offers specific questions that patients could and should be asking
their oncologists and hematologists.

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Please remember the opinions expressed on Patient Power are not necessarily the views of our sponsors, contributors, partners or Patient Power. Our discussions are not a substitute for seeking medical advice or care from your own doctor. That’s how you’ll get care that’s most appropriate for you.

Carol Preston:

Hello everyone and welcome. I'm Carol Preston. I'm at ASH, the American Society of Hematology,
the largest blood cancer meeting in the world and a very exciting time to be
here. Dr. Rob Hromas from Florida
is with us. And will you identify
yourself, please?

Dr. Hromas:

Yes. Thank
you for having me. My name is Rob
Hromas. I'm Chair of Internal Medicine
at the University of Florida College of Medicine, which is just up the road
here from Orlando.

Carol Preston:

Oh, nice for you.
You can commute to the meeting.
We just attended a press conference.
You just moderated a news conference, several of the blood cancer
diseases. Rather than speaking
specifically about each one, I mean, the excitement was palpable as to what
we're hearing. Last year at ASH for CLL
with several drugs approved, this year with multiple myeloma in the last couple
of weeks. Talk to me about that
excitement.

Dr. Hromas:

It's an enormously exciting time. Out of over 4,000 abstracts, we chose seven
to present at this media session that I just moderated that you were at, and
they were—each of them in advance in AML, ALL, CLL, multiple myeloma, it's a
very exciting time.

What's interesting to me, though, is that these advances are
to specific genetic molecular defects in each of those cancers. The drugs are not necessarily—some of the
drugs are good for everyone in that cancer, but some of those drugs were
targeted to the molecular defect in the cancer.
So if you have a patient that has CLL or AML, ask your doctor, What are
my molecular defects, and—because there are drugs coming down the pipeline
specifically for molecular defects in many types of blood cancers.

And then the other really exciting thing is our years and
years of investment in medical research by the National Institutes of Health
and National Cancer Institute is paying off, because we've identified all of
these molecular defects. And now we have great drugs that target those
molecular defects in the specific patients that have those specific mutations,
and they're very effective.

Carol Preston:

You and I discussed that many patients are not
able to go to a major research center, but they're seeing their oncologist in
their community, local oncologist, sometimes a hematologist. What do patients need to do to get this
information? Because not every oncologist is up to speed second by second on
all of the advances, which are breathtaking?

Dr. Hromas:

So the patient should take charge of their own
health, and they should ask their oncologist, “Doctor, do I have the 17p
deletion in my chronic leukemia cells?
How many cells is that 17p deletion present in?” They should ask their oncologist, “Do I have
the FLT3 mutation in my acute myeloleukemia?
And if so, have you considered this new drug that's out for the acute
myeloleukemia?”

Patients are empowered to ask those questions,
and community oncologists everywhere only want to help patients. And they would
be thrilled to have patients take part in their own healthcare, and so I think
patients have feel free to ask those questions of any oncologist they see.

Carol Preston:

Do you like it when your patients ask you those
questions?

Dr. Hromas:

Absolutely.
And if I can't—don't have a good answer, I say, I don't have a good
answer, and I'll go find out. I've had
patients bring in research papers to me and say, “Doc Hromas, what about this,
and I haven't even seen the research paper, so I appreciate the help.”

In addition, I need to tell you a quick two?sentence story
on how important this is in multiple myeloma.
There was a wife of a patient who came to Dr. Bart Barlogie at the
University of Arkansas more than 20 years ago.
Dr. Barlogie is one of my former professors, and she said,
Dr. Barlogie, in rats this drug called thalidomide was effective in
treating myeloma. My husband has
myeloma. Would you try this drug, which
is used for leprosy in my husband with myeloma?

Dr. Barlogie, did, and the rest is history. We had thalidomide, lenalidomide (Revlimid),
pomalidomide (Pomalyst), and it's a remarkably effective drug because a
patient, family member came to their loved one's oncologist and said, “Hey, do
you know about this?” And the oncologist
was humble enough to be able to say, “No, let's try it.”

And now, of course, today it's different with clinical
trials and compliance and regulations.
It would be a little bit more difficult to try today, but the point is
that one patient made a difference for thousands of myeloma patients all over
the world, and I would challenge your patients to do the same.

Carol Preston:

All right.
So you heard it here. Our Patient
Power audience, you want to make sure that you ask the questions. Don't be shy about doing it because if you
don't ask the questions nobody else will.

I'm Carol Preston reporting for ASH. Thanks for watching.

Please remember the opinions expressed on Patient Power are not necessarily the views of our sponsors, contributors, partners or Patient Power. Our discussions are not a substitute for seeking medical advice or care from your own doctor. That’s how you’ll get care that’s most appropriate for you.

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